Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-05-27
WOMEN AND SOCIAL SCIENCE.
An Incident Which Illustrates a Trait
in the Fair Sex.
Especial Correspondence.

An Incident Which Illustrates a Trait
in the Fair Sex.
Especial Correspondence
NEW YORK, May 90
Women are more cruel than men in many
respects. Was it Frenchman who said.
1.-The cruelest creature is woman, but the
meanest is a man" We must admit that
Frenchmen have way of saying things that
have i'll them truth and force crystullized.
But as to the special order of cruelty which
have in mind. 1t is the desire If women TO
keep interiors of their own sex from rising in
the social or financial scale With many of
them, "once a servant always a servant.
That is, they refuse to permit a woman who
has served them in any inferior capacity to
ascend, even by her own skill and industry.
When occasionally one of their housemeids
makes a break and establishes herself in bust
ness grade higher, her mistress regards it as
piece of presumption and makes it subject
of humor in the family. The better the maid
succeeds In her new line of employment, the
more does the mistress feel herself and society
injured the better the opportunity for ridi-
Guile. Not SO with men. They understand
that the hope of the human race lies in the
desire to climb-the divine discomfort which
leads on to growth and advancement If the
H.
ploy shows desire and ability to advance
himself to something higher, they will give
him all the help they can. take pleasure in
seeing him better himself, and finally when
he has reached an equality with themselves
they will give him the same resnect and con-
Secretion they snow otners, and they will a.
ways be proud of him.
But women, for the most part, are entirely
without breadth in their ideas of social line
drawing. They are excusable For centuries
they have lived within lines and been taught
to venerate said lines and all other lines which
a false idea of life set up and kept standing.
Small wonder is it that they do not see the
lever that moves the world; that they mis-
take the glorious face of progress for the i'm
pertinent countenance of presumption.
l was reminded of this weakness in my sex
the other day Dining with four or five
friends all ladies who had more than ordi.
nary intellectual claims, the talk took an in
dustrial turn. Each one had an opinion on
the subject Of the enormous army of unem-
ployed in New York. Being comfortably
adjusted in the mosaic of life themselves, they
viewed the struggles and sufferings of those
who were not, with that calm philosophy
which characterizes the comfortable.
One lady told how one of her chamber
maids, the most faithful and efficient one she
had, came to her one day and said: "Mrs r.
| have decided to leave you. / am not at all
dissatisfied with either you or the work, but
believe can do better at sewing, going out
by the day at first, and afterward opening a
place of my own. / think it is every woman's
right and even duty to do the best she can
for herself"
A most sensible girl, surely; but her for
ma, Al.
that this was a piece of extravagant imperti-
hence on the part of the maid She did not
say so, but she went on to tell how said maid
was now located at a first class boarding
house, taking her coffee in her room and
putting on no end of airs" AT this point
two of the company said: "Perfectly ridi-
culous" l said: "Highly commendable!
That girl has in her the spirit which made
our ancestors revolt against the yoke of
British rule; the spirit to which we are in
debted for all growth and excellence in the
industrial arts. She is doing her part towards
pushing the car of progress"
They all looked rather alarmed at my
mannish view of the situation, but did not at
tempt to defend their position as obstruction
lists. There were no more CALCULATIONS of con
tempt for the energetic seamstreSS in my
presence. The good lady who told the story
agreed with me that the girl had chosen the
better part, but the old contempt for the in
ferior, the belief incucated through the years
that lines of caste We're drawn by heaven and
not to be oyerleaped without punishment,
tinctured her in spite of herself
l do not blame her She had never before
had occasion to think on that subject outside
of the established and Interchangeable order of
things, and probably never will have again.
G, G..
CowhOy